


What Remains (is a lot of Salt)

by LostCryptid



Series: Grains of Salt [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Bickering, Humor, Implied/Referenced Recreational Drug Use, Loss of Eyes, M/M, Salty Elias Bouchard, lonely old men being lonely old men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostCryptid/pseuds/LostCryptid
Summary: When Jonah body hops again and leaves Elias body behind none of the involved expects what it would entail.Elias, much to his own surprise, is still alive.He's also still married to one Peter Lukas.And blind.Navigating life after being stuck in your own head for the last few decades is certainly fun and Elias has a lot of feelings about it.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas, Original Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas
Series: Grains of Salt [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916452
Comments: 50
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spiralxshock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralxshock/gifts).



> This is for Arwyn because her idea spawned this entire thing.  
> I hope you'll keep enjoying wherever this will go!

When Elias came to himself, it was a weird thing and not something he had expected to happen. He clenched his fingers and groaned softly. Blinking his eyes did nothing to dispel the inky darkness in front of him, and Elias had a pretty good idea why that was the case. He also had at least some vague ideas about what had happened even if he couldn’t remember the last few hours. Was it hours? He hoped it was hours.

Hestingtatingly he moved his hands to his face, gently pressing his fingers to the skin around his eyes, or more precisely his eye sockets. His eyes, well not his eyes, were gone, leaving two empty craters behind.

However, while that proofed at least some of his suspicions correct, it didn’t explain one thing, and that was: Why was he alive?

Elias had always thought that he, or was what left of him, would die or fizzle out or honestly whatever when Jonah was done with him—setting him free in some way. Apparently, he had been wrong with that assumption.

Groaning again he sat up, his fingers scraping over the stone floor when he pushed himself up. Was he in the panopticon? It would probably make sense. But the actual question was, what was he supposed to do now? He didn’t exactly have a plan.  
Elias rubbed over his face, trying to avoid the empty holes in the middle of it as best as he could. At least they didn’t hurt, so small mercies. He stopped in his tracks when he felt a sudden presence in the room. Was it Jonah? He tilted his head, angling it in the direction of the feeling. Had he come back to clean up?

“You’re not Jonah anymore.”

Not Jonah then, Peter Lukas. Elias wasn’t sure if that was any better.

“Oh, no, really? What gave it away? Was it the missing eyes? I was, wasn’t it, should’ve been more subtle about that part.”, Elias said dryly, directing his words at the vague area where he felt Peters presence.

“What are you here for? Plan on cleaning up your husband’s mess?”

The thought wasn’t as scary as it could’ve been. A part of Elias had long since arranged himself with his own death.

“No, besides…. Jonah isn’t my husband right now.”

Elias furrowed his brows, trying to catch up with the implications.

“Are you- oh great, the bastard hasn’t even managed to divorce you Fantastic, just absolutely amazing.”, Elias huffed, more irritated than anything else right now. So he was still kicking, blind and also still married to Peter Lukas.

Elias huffed again before he tried to get on his feet, trying to get his legs to listen to him. The weirdest part of all of this was honestly having the control over his body back.

“Leaving you a widower would’ve worked perfectly for you, too bad that I’m still alive.”

He stumbled slightly, working on orienting himself, clumsy in a body that had become unfamiliar to him until a large hand wrapped itself around his upper arm, steadying him. Elias froze at the sudden contact.

“Don’t touch me.”

His voice was sharp and cold when he snapped at Peter. If he could, he would’ve glared daggers.

“We might be married Mr. Lukas, but that still gives you no right to touch me without my permission.”

The hand on his arm loosened it’s grip and left, letting Elias relax slightly.

“Are you scared?”

There was a certain curiosity swinging in Peter’s voice, and Elias didn’t like it. He frowned.

“Of you? No.”

Peter chuckled, and Elias could feel his fingers itching to punch Peter in the face, and he might have done it if he could see.

“No, in general.”

“I- “

Elias stopped and actually thought about it for a moment. The answer surprised himself a bit.

“- No.”

He wasn’t scared. Or afraid. Not really at least, he was uncertain sure, and he did feel a bit lost, but there was no actual fear behind it. Elias wasn’t sure if this numbness was simply a coping of his brain to handle this situation or if he just didn’t have it in him to care.

He sighed, running fingers through his hair.

“What do you want from me, Mr Lukas?”

“You can call me Peter, you know?”

Elias snorted unamused.

“Maybe I don’t want too. And it doesn’t answer my question either. What. Do. You. Want?”

He could hear the soft sound of fabric shifting, so he assumed that Peter was moving somehow. But he hadn’t left, he could still feel Peters presence nearby.

“From you? Nothing really. I wasn’t necessarily expecting to find you after all.”

“Great, how about you keep your distance then?” Elias muttered before he turned around and started walking. He wasn’t planning on sticking around now that he wasn’t stuck in his own head anymore and he doubted that he could rely on Peter Lukas for help.

Elias could basically feel Peter’s Eyes on his back as he stumbled through the room.

“Stop staring at me.”

Elia’s fingers touched the wall, also stone, and he started to move alongside it. There had to be a door somewhere, right?

“What are you planning, Elias?”

He stopped, turning his head back into Peter’s direction.

“First of all, none of your business. Second of all, I am not planning anything. It’s not like I had time to plan something. So if anything I’m improvising and what I’m trying to do is getting out of here.”

“That was a lot of words for being none of my business.”

Elias opened his mouth before he closed it again. The goddamn amusement in Peter’s voice was just…

“You know what? Fuck you.”

He turned his head back around and continued to feel his way along the wall. There was no reason to waste his energy on Peter. It was more important to concentrate on getting out of here, and if he was correct about being in the panopticon, then that would mean navigating the tunnels. While blind.

“Do you want help?”

Elias froze again.

“What?”

“I asked if you want some help.”

Elias could only well not stare exactly but certainly, turn around and gape.

“Elias?”

“Why?”

Elias could hear rustling again.

“You’re aware that I can’t see as in I am blind as in if you’re shrugging or something like that it sort of useless because I won’t see.”, he deadpanned. “So again, why? What would you gain from helping me?”

“Jonah won’t like it.”

“Okay.”

“Really?.”

“You said Jonah wouldn’t like it, you could axe murder me afterwards and that alone would make it worth it.” Elias muttered.

He could hear Peter laugh and footsteps closing in on him.

“You might want those.”

Something got pushed into his hands. Elias scrunched up his eyebrows, running his fingers over the unknown object, trying to identify it.

“Glasses?”

“Sunglasses. Might be less conspicuous.”

“Where did you-?” He stopped. “You know what? I don’t care. Thank you. I suppose.”

“You’re welcome.”

Elias sighed and placed the glasses on his nose.

“Alright, then. Lead the way?”

“Permission to touch you granted?”

Elias took a deep breath. He could basically feel Peter’s hand hovering over his shoulder.

“Fine.”

The word was sharp, not given because it was truly wanted but because it was a necessity right now, but a permission nonetheless.

The hand that Peter placed on his shoulder was warm and heavy and utterly foreign. Elias didn’t like it. He had been able to feel, to a certain extend, when Jonah occupied his body, but it had been toned down. Sort of numb. Not like...this.

This was the first time he was actually touched in years, ignoring Peter’s earlier touch, and Elias didn’t like it all. It was too much, and he wanted nothing more than to shrug off the hand that steered him along.

If you would’ve asked Elias while being stuck inside his own head what he missed, he probably would’ve said human contact.

He had been wrong. He didn’t want any of that.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and so he let Peter lead him through the tunnels, hand firmly clasped around his shoulder.

At least it was quiet besides their footsteps echoing in the stone corridors.

Besides leading him, Peter was probably also the only thing that stopped him from running facefirst into a few walls and straight-up falling when he stumbled over a few irregularities on the ground. Elias hated it, the fact that he had to rely on Peter Lukas of all people irritated him to no end. Falling might have been preferable.

Elias, to his own surprise, could pinpoint the moment when they left the tunnels and entered the archives. The air around him changed from cold and somewhat damp to slightly warmer and dry air. The floor under his feet changed too, turning from rough stone to even wooden parquet.

Now they just needed to get out and then…

“Elias?”

That was Jon. The weight of Peter’s hand had vanished. Elias guessed that he had decided to disappear into the Lonely, leaving him alone in the hallway with Jon.

“I quit.”

“You- what?” Jon sounded more than just confused. Which was understandable but nothing Elias cared about right now.

“I quit. I’m leaving. You’ll find another head of the archives, I am sure of it. No wait, it’s probably already taking care off, never mind, now if you’ll excuse me.” 

And with that Elias strode past Jon. He could feel himself brush against the other’s arms, but he hadn’t run straight into him, so he counted that as a win.

“...what?”

Elias could hear Jon behind him, but it seemed like the other was too baffled to follow him or question him further.

“Careful.”

There was a sudden drop in temperature that made Elias shiver. And hand wrapped around his wrist that tugged him sideways.

“Peter.”

“You nearly walked into a wall.”

Elias huffed.

“Remember the part where I told you not to touch me without my consent?”

“Really, Elias?” Peter sighed. “Would you have preferred to run into a wall?”

“Honestly? Yes.”

Was he pissed? Yes. Was it directed at Peter? No, not necessarily and certainly not entirely. Did he care? No, not really, Peter probably deserved it anyway.

“So you can either let go of me or get me out of here before someone else sees me or Jons decides to go after me and ask unnecessary questions.”

He heard Peter chuckle.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They wouldn’t be able to find you even if they tried too.”

So the temperature drop was from Peter pulling him into the Lonely, Elias assumed. He sighed. 

“Can we leave anyway? I’d like to leave this-” 

He gestured around.

“-behind me.”

There was no reason to stick around. Elias wanted to leave this godforsaken Institute behind and never deal with it again. And if he ever met one of its associates again, it would be too soon.

“...Please?”, he added as an afterthought. He felt tired, filled with a bone-deep exhaustion and the need to simply  _ leave. _

_ “ _ Of course.”

Peter’s hand moved from his wrist to the small of Elias back, guiding him surprisingly gentle through the archives.

The way felt familiar even if he couldn’t see it. The sound of his steps echoing slightly in the hallways and the feeling of walking floors and stairs that he had walked so many times before had remained unchanged and grounded him, just like Peter’s hand even if he would refuse to admit that to anyone but himself.

“So you don’t want to see any of your colleagues?”

Elias snorted.

“Dearest husband, I couldn’t see them if I wanted too, but no, I don’t want to see any of them.”, he said dryly before he sighed.

“I don’t think I want to see anyone at all if I’m honest,” he admitted, more quietly.

“Is that so?”, there was something swinging in Peter’s voice that Elias couldn’t pinpoint, but he didn’t like it.

He felt a strong urge to roll his eyes at the other.

“No need to pop a Lonely Boner.”, he muttered.

There was a moment of silence before Peter started to chuckle a chuckle that slowly formed into a laugh. 

“You really aren’t alike at all.”

Elias stopped and spluttered, turning his head into the direction where he expected Peters face to be.

“Excuse me?! Of course, we aren’t alike!”

Elias wasn’t even sure how to react. How was someone supposed to react to being compared to the person who stole your body and your eyes for that matter, and locked you into your own head for the last decades and then left you blind in some tunnels when they were done? So, for now, he only gaped after his initial outburst.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this speechless.”

Elias closed his mouth with an audible click before taking a deep breath. This was going to give him a migraine. He rubbed his temple.

“Well that’s the point, isn’t it. You haven’t seen  _ me _ speechless before, because you haven’t seen  **_me_ ** before. It wasn’t me. You don’t know me. You know Jonah, or you think you do, but that’s an entirely different matter. But I’m not  _ him.  _ I don’t want to b _ e him,  _ and I hate his guts for obvious reasons so if you could just not compare us? That would be great. If you want Jonah, go look for him and just leave me alone.” 

Peter hummed softly, apparently unimpressed by his rant.

“I’m pretty sure the papers say, Elias Bouchard and not Jonah Magnus, so I don’t have to look for my husband, don’t you think? Guess you won’t get rid of me that easily.”

The hand that still lingered on his lower back gently pushed him forward again, urging him to start walking again.

“A Lonely Avatar who refuses to leave, aren’t you worried that you’ll get kicked out of your Club?.”

“I’ll be fine no worries-”

“I’m not  _ worried _ .”

“-Besides, I’m having fun right now.”

“Amazing, at least one of us has.” Elias wanted to snap, but he only sounded exhausted at this point.

He heard the soft groan of wooden doors and assumed that they had finally reached the entrance. The sudden noise of traffic and the feeling of a breeze only proved him correct in his assumption. That was something at least.

Peter guided him down the stairs and to his car, something fancy probably, leaving him alone after showing him where the passenger door was, even holding it open for him.

Elias slumped into the soft leather seat, leaning his head against the cold glass of the window after closing the door behind him and putting the seatbelt on. Which had involved some fumbling, but Peter hadn’t commented on it, something Elias was at least partially thankful for.

“I could get you some prosthetic eyes if you want?” Peter suggested, accompanied by the sound of keys getting turned and a car engine rumbling to life.

“I think I’d prefer a cane.”

Sure the feeling of his eyes missing was weird and disconcerting to a point, but right now something that would help him to find his way without relying on someone else would be far more useful in his opinion. He was also a bit surprised at how little he felt the need to get his vision back. Alone the idea of seeing was something that seemed so very unappealing that it came close to physical discomfort. Which was probably something he should evaluate some more.

“I could get you both?”

“Are you trying to sugar daddy me?” 

“We’re married. I doubt this would fall into the area of a sugar daddy.”

Elias shrugged slightly, not caring if Peter could see it or not.

“We could get divorced, wouldn’t be the first time, right?”

“Is that your way of saying you want me to sugar daddy you?

Elias made a gagging sound, which might be immature, sure, but he couldn’t care less.

“Ew, no.”

Silence settled over them for a while, only the sound of the car remained, droning on the background.

“Elias?” 

“Hmmm?”

“Do you want to get divorced?”

Elias furrowed his brows. 

“I-”, he sighed. “I don’t know.” 

It hadn’t been his decision to marry Peter and technically he didn’t even know the man, while on the other hand, he felt like he knew him way to intimately. He supposed he didn’t mind Peter, he was unobtrusive in a way. He didn’t make him feel caged. After being alone for so long actually being around, people made him uncomfortable and probably terrified him too, to some extent. Peter was a lovely compromise of someone being there but being so caught up in the Lonely that he didn’t really register as a human in Elias’ brain.

“Don’t you? Want to get divorced, I mean?

“No. I don’t think so.” Peter said after a moment of quiet contemplation. 

“Why?” Elias asked, actually curious as what Peter got out of this.

Peter hummed thoughtfully.

“Don’t see the need too.”

“Most people probably wouldn’t want to stay married to someone they technically don’t know after being dramatically left by their actual husband.” Elias pointed out amused, which earned him a chuckle in response.

“Do we actually know anyone?”

“If we’re going to have that sort of discussion I definitely need to be drunk.” Elias said dryly. There was no way he was having a talk about human connections with an Avatar of the Lonely while being sober.

“Fair enough. Another point though, even if we don’t know each other right now that would be easy enough to change, don’t you think? Assuming that you can actually know people obviously.”

This actually made Elias lift his head from the window to turn his head into Peter’s direction, even if it didn’t change a thing technically.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”, he questioned incredulously.

“If you want too.”

“I- Uhh... I suppose?”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

If he was honest, Elias wasn’t. Not at all.

“No, I mean, yes? You know what? Sure. Let’s go on a date. On one condition, no crowded places, but I suspect that should work you as well, right?”

“Of course. I would’ve assumed that you would want some company, though. After everything that happened.”

Elias frowned, merely thinking about having to interact with people made his insides churn and twist up into a tight knot, that made him feel sick.

“I’d really rather not, I think.”, he mumbled, resting his head back against the window.

Silence settled between them and Elias closed his eyelids. He must’ve fallen asleep, too because when a large hand shook him lightly, he startled awake.

“nghuh?”, was all he brought out, disoriented after his nap.

“We’re here.”

“Don’t touch me.” Elias mumbled, but his complaint was weak and half-hearted. The hand left anyway and left him to rub over his face and yawn before he undid his seatbelt and climbed out of the car.

It was quieter than in the city, the sound of traffic was missing instead replaced by rustling leaves and the sound of a few birds. And Elias knew that Peter had brought him to the house he had grown up in instead of his flat in London. Jonah had been here before, and Elias could remember the large house with the long corridors even if the memories weren’t completely clear. It also meant that he had slept longer than he had thought.

“Want me to lead you to the house, or do you want to stumble around on your own?” Peter asked, amused. Elias huffed in annoyance, he wished he could roll his eyes at the other but since he couldn’t Elias instead settled on frowning into the general direction of Peter’s voice.

He probably deserved Peter being a little shit, at least to an extent, but still.

“You can lead me, just don’t….”

It was hard to find the right words for something he only just discovered himself.

“You can guide me, just let me be independent, I suppose? Don’t tug me around or anything.”

“Sure.”

Peter’s hand wrapped around his shoulder, turning him into the direction of the house before nudging Elias into walking.

Gravel was crunching under his feet on the way to the mansion. Unless Peter had decided to lead him off a cliff, in that case, Gravel was crunching under his feet on the way to his immediate death.

But for some reason he doubted that first of all he couldn’t remember there being any cliffs nearby from the times, Jonah had visited, second of all, even if there were any he doubted that a Lukas would throw him off of it, that was the Vast and not the Lonely’s style.

Not that if Peter led him into the Lonely, it wouldn’t result in certain death. It just was that the thought didn’t scare him at all.

“Careful, Stairs.”

Even with Peter’s warning, Elias managed to stub his foot. He wanted a cane. He obviously couldn’t speak from personal experience, but he assumed that it would be very helpful.

There were three steps leading up to the front porch that Peter lead him up and from there through the large entrance door into the lobby.

“I’ll leave you alone for today, feel free to pick just whichever room. Tomorrow we can get you a cane and anything else you might need. Try not to break your neck, alright?”

Peter squeezed his shoulder a last time, then the weight was gone, and so was Peter’s presence, leaving Elias alone in the lobby.

The heavy door fell shut behind him, the sound echoing ominously through the hall.

Elias sighed and straightened his back before venturing on. Navigating the house proved to be interesting, to say the least. He had the memories of Jonah, so he at least had an idea of the layout, but it still felt like stumbling through unknown territory. The far apart rooms didn’t exactly make it easier, but he managed. Somehow.

Somehow meant that he simply chose the first bedroom that he found, where he was relatively sure Jonah hadn’t stayed in. He also decided that food was overrated and that he didn’t have the energy to spare to search for the kitchen. So food had to wait until the next day. 

What Elias did manage to do was find the bathroom and take care of his business there. He even managed to find an unused toothbrush, even if he wasn’t sure why an Avatar of the Lonely would keep those around.

Elias also raided the closets in the bedroom, which meant he simply grabbed the first soft shirt shaped thing he found and put it on after discarding his own clothes in a corner of the room. 

It was way too big for him, so he assumed that it was Peter’s or some of the other Lukases, but if he remembered correctly, Peter was the only who still lived here, at least periodically. Siblings gone and parents long since dead, so Peter was the more likely owner. He couldn’t imagine that someone aligned with the Lonely would keep mementoes.

Which lead to the next question: Did Peter store his clothes all over the mansion? If so, then why? Did the Jumpers and trousers had to be lonely too? Or had he ended up in Peter’s bedroom?

Elias decided that it didn’t matter. Peter had said to pick a room, and he had, if he had ended up in the others bedroom that was hardly his fault and if Peter actually stored his things all over the mansion who was Elias to judge.

If Peter wanted him to get out of his room, he would have to come and kick Elias himself out, though.

He let himself flop down on the big bed, facefirst before wriggling under the sheets. He curled up tightly, tugging the blankets tightly around himself, arming himself against the chill that seemed to have settled permanently into the walls of the building—courtesy of the Lonely most likely. 

Elias closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. There would be a lot to deal with in the morning, and he’d prefer to be rested for it. Especially since he wasn’t even sure if he was still ‘alive’ or if Jonah had declared Elias Boucard to be dead, which would undoubtedly be interesting since Jon had seen him, but all those problems were future Eliases problem to deal with. For now, he could just let himself relax into the soft embrace of slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Elias is salty and nothing much happens besides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be actual plot in the next chapter (maybe)  
> The idiots just started bantering and killed any plot and I don't know what happened but what's new

The next morning began with Elias falling out of his bed after getting his legs tangled up in the blankets, followed by colourful swear in at least three languages. Elias would’ve loved to blame his lack of sight for his clumsiness, but he knew that it was more likely due to the fact that he hadn’t used a body in over 20 years.

At least no one was there to see him. Elias was unable to feel Peter’s presence, and he didn’t think that there was a lot of personnel around, if any at all. And even if then they would hopefully not materialise in his room to notice his less than graceful moments.

So after laying on the floor for a moment, Elias pushed himself up and after a quick stop in the bathroom went on his way to look for the kitchen. His stomach was already complaining, and some food would be really appreciated.

Since he had stayed on the ground floor last night, he at least didn’t have to worry about stairs and the dangers they posed, he also remembered that the kitchen was on this level and even the vague direction.

Jonah had never spent a lot of time in the kitchen or really anywhere that he had deemed below him and/or had to do with anything that he had considered the job of servants—damned aristocratic snob.

Moving along the walls, Elias managed to find his way through the mansion, only bumping into a small side table once. The first door he had opened turned out to be a pantry, but that at least meant that he should be close. He pushed open the next door, hoping that his foggy memories served him right this time.

“Good morning, Elias.”

“Jurys still out if it’s a good one, but morning to you too,” Elias, replied dryly, at least he had found Peter.

“Is this the kitchen?” he asked.

“Sure seems like it.” Peter sounded amused.

“Funny.” 

How had no one tried to strangle this man before?

“Oh, I’m certainly having fun.”

Elias took a deep breath.

“Just be glad that I don’t have anything to throw right now.”, he muttered under his breath and went on his way to find the fridge.

“Elias?”

“What?” he might have sounded a bit annoyed.

“Are you wearing my clothes?”

Elias’ fingers moved from counter to counter until he found something that felt like a fridge; he could feel it humming under his hands. He pressed his hands against the cold surface and moved them across until he found the handle.

“I don’t know you tell me.”, he said, pulling open the door. Fresh air wafted out, so he had been successful.

“If your name is written on it I certainly didn’t notice.”

“Why...and what are you doing there?”

“Well, I needed something to sleep in, in case you didn’t notice it’s a tad cold in here, and this one was soft if you mean by why, why I am wearing it. Oh, and three-piece suits don’t make the best pyjamas, you know? As for what I’m doing? Getting food, I’m hungry.”

It was more that he blindly tried to figure out what he actually had in his hands with little success.

He heard paper rustling and Peter sigh before a chair slid over wood.

“Let me help.”

For a second Elias thought about declining, but his hunger was bigger than the need to fight Peter on everything on principle. So he just stepped aside.

“What do you want?.” Peter asked.

“Whatever, I’m not picky.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very, I’m not Jonah. I don’t need truffles or caviar. Toast works just fine.”, Elias answered with a shrug.

“Low maintenance.”

Elias snorted.

“Isn’t everyone compared to Jonah?”

“Wouldn’t know, but likely. What’s your opinion about eggs?”

Elias shrugged again.

“Works for me. Did you already eat?” he asked before a large hand pushed him to the side.

“You could just tell me if I’m in the way you know?”

“Sure could, and yes, I already ate, been awake for a while.”

Elias could hear moving and the clacking of a pan, followed by the sound of cracking eggs.

“Uhhh...Can I help?”, he asked awkwardly after a while, it felt weird to stand around doing nothing, and he felt the need to do something now that he had his body back.

Peter snorted, and it made Elias frown.

“Yeah, sit down and wait.”

Elias huffed but went and looked for the table, flopping down on the first chair that he found. He pulled his legs up until he sat cross-legged and placed his chin in his hand, leaning on the table. 

Then he waited.

He listened to Peter working behind him while absentmindedly tapping the fingers of his free hand on the wooden surface. Elias wondered if he could learn to cook blind. He had liked cooking. Baking, too. He could still remember that one time when he had brought hash brownies to the archives. That had been an interesting day.

“You’re smiling.”

There was the clink of a plate getting placed on wood in front of him.

“Just remembered something.” Elias hummed in reply, grabbing the fork that Peter nudged against his hand with a thanks.

The memory of James Wright (aka Jonah) storming into the Archives only to find at least half of the staff high, had certainly lifted his mood.

“Do you think we could send some hash brownies to the Institute?” Elias wondered, stabbing some eggs onto his fork. To his delight, he found that Peter also had made bacon. Maybe married life wasn’t all that bad.

“Probably? Why?”

“Hmmm, call it nostalgia I suppose, and I think Jonah would hate it.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

Elias smile got wider.

“Thanks.”, he said before he shut up so he could concentrate on eating. He heard paper rustle and assumed that Peter had gone back to reading the newspaper (?) or he would do so if he weren’t overly aware of the feeling of eyes on him.

“What?”, he asked, mouth still half full.

“What?”

Elias furrowed his brows.

“You’re watching me, I don’t need to see to know that, so I want to know why.”, he answered, angling himself more towards Peter. “Is there something on my face, that I’m not aware off?”

“No.”

“Great, what is it then?”

Elias started to feel like this wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’m trying to figure something out.”

Elias furrowed his brows further.

“O...kay? Tell me if you do so?”

“Sure.”

There was more paper rustling and a chair was moved again.

“I’ll leave you alone now. I’ll pick you up later.”

Peter patted his shoulder, and before Elias could complain, Peters presence was gone, leaving him alone in the kitchen. Elias got the feeling that Peter had just run away from the conversation and shook his head slightly. But he got to finish his breakfast without getting stared at, so he counted it as a win of sorts.

After finishing, he placed his dishes into the sink - was there a dishwasher? He didn’t know and wasn’t in the mood to search around? Since Peter didn’t magically reappear once he was done, Elias decided to explore the mansion. Unless Peter decided to try and feed him to the Lonely Elias would most likely end up staying here for a while. Refreshing Jonah’s memories and learning to navigate this place blindly seemed like a good idea in that case.

The mansion itself was how Elias remembered it, huge and sprawling with rooms far apart to make human contact not impossible, but highly unlikely. Navigating them without sight was more difficult, but Elias managed. It was helpful that the place was kept sparse, thus leaving fewer opportunities to bump into any furniture.

On his tour, Elias even made a small stop at Jonah’s old room to grab a pair of fitting pants and some underwear. For shirts he would stick with Peter’s sweaters, they were soft and simply more comfortable than everything Jonah ever decided to buy.

Since the room made him uncomfortable, Elias hurried back into his own to get changed, picking out another one of Peters sweaters. No more stuffy dress shirts and waistcoats. Now he was at least somewhat ready to face the world. His sleep sweater ended up on his bed before he set out once more. 

The mansion had more bedrooms than anyone could ever need, especially a Lukas which was most likely intentional. Various studies, a library, that Elias immediately left again after he rediscovered it and figured out what it was, a huge seemingly empty room, possibly a ballroom? And Elias wasn’t even halfway through before he gave up.

He found his way back to the lobby and pushed the door open to the front porch. He stepped out and settled down on the stairs leading up to it and decided to just be for a moment.

It was a rare sunny day, for England and especially for the time of the year, so he had to enjoy it while he could. Elias closed his eyes (eyesockets?) and simply relaxed like this, relishing in the sunbeams that tickled his nose.

Sitting like that was how Peter found him.

Elias could hear the porch creaking under the other big frame, but made no effort to get up or indicate that he was aware of the other’s presence.

Peter’s step came closer, and a heavy weight settled next to him onto the steps.

“You’re ruining your pants. Jonah would hate it.” Peter announced conversationally, and Elias chuckled.

“Good, thought about going on a cutting spree and turning them all into hotpants anyway, what do you think?”

“Sounds like something you’d regret in the Winter. Are you ready to go?”

“Nah it’ll be fine,” Elias replied and pushed himself up. “I’ll just steal yours, and I’m as ready as I’m gonna get, just need uh….shoes? And my sunglasses.”

Elias simply had walked out on socks earlier.

“Already got them.”

Both, shoes and glasses, got handed to him.

Peter waited for Elias to put them on, silently hovering next to him in a way, that reminded Elias of a giant bear, before leading him to the car.

“You’re still wearing my sweater.” Peter pointed out quietly after the car doors closed behind them.

“Wrong, I’m wearing it. Therefore it’s mine now.” Elias replied, his head was back against the window of the car. 

“Does it bother you?”, he added then, actually curious as to what the answer would be. There was a pause, and Elias wondered if he would even get one.

“...No, it doesn’t.” The answer came when Elias almost stopped expecting it. “It’s just unusual.”

Elias turned his head into Peter’s direction.

“You know I was never big on suits. The cut-off hotpants would be more me than everything in ‘my’, “ he made air quotes “closet right now.”

“Really?” Peter seemed to find the thought amusing.

“I had weed socks.”

“You had what?”

“Weed socks. Three different pairs actually. Pretty sure Jonah threw them away though. A shame, they were, as the kids today would call it, pretty lit.” Elias smiled when Peter chuckled.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Getting you a Cane, getting you an appointment at an ocularist, you’ll see about the rest.”

Elias got the vague impression that asking for more information would lead nowhere, so he kept quiet and simply leaned back to wait and see what would happen.

In the end, they did get him a cane, two actually, one that could be folded and on that couldn’t. The pros and cons had been explained to him, but he already had forgotten half of it. He assumed that he’d figure it on his own soon enough.

They also managed to make a few necessary appointments or more like Elias managed to get them himself after Peter dropped him off and vanished into thin air, leaving Elias alone again.

The thing that Elias learned that way, was that money did indeed open doors and so did the name Lukas.

He ended up with an ocularist appointment and the information that he would most likely need surgery to fit orbital implants into his eye sockets. The question as to why he didn’t have any, and when and how did he lost his eyes Elias simply didn’t answer except for a few extremely vague comments. They wouldn’t believe him anyway, and he just wanted to get this over with.

Peter, in the meantime, had apparently set up a meeting with an Orientation & Mobility Instructor for the next day. He also had arranged for someone who would teach Elias how to accomplish important daily activities. Which sounded like more human contact than Elias had thought Peter was capable of. Fortunately, they would come to the mansion, and he wouldn’t have to go to them.

Something Elias appreciated, he prefered the quiet secludedness of the manor to the bustling of the city. The city as it had turned out, proved to be quite overwhelming. Getting a cane helped a bit, but considering that Elias didn’t know how to use it correctly or efficiently, it didn’t change much. He even managed to accidentally whack Peter with it, much to his own amusement.

Having Peter near actually helped too, but Elias would never admit that, no matter what, but that was probably the reason why he relented very quickly when Peter asked if he could just guide him so he wouldn’t get whacked _again_. The warmth of Peters hand pressing into the small of his back grounded him, in a place where he did feel a bit lost. Quite ironic in Elias opinion. A Lukas, keeping him from feeling lost.

The place that Peter brought him too next turned out to be a clothing store.

“So you are bothered by me taking your sweaters.” Elias said, amused after Peter had told him where they were.

“No, but I thought you’d appreciate something of your own if you don’t want to wear Jonah's suits.”

And Elias did, he didn’t mind Peter’s sweaters, they were soft and comfortable, but he couldn’t exactly take Peter’s pants. Elias wasn’t tiny by all mean but compared to Peter’s big frame, that was both tall and broad, he was, well….small and he wasn’t sure if there was actually a belt that would keep Peters pants on his hips.

He hummed.

“Alright.”, he agreed. “Sugar Daddy me.”, he added as a joke. The entire situation seemed so ridiculous that he couldn’t help it. And humour was probably the way his brain coped with getting body-snatched, debody-snatched, blinded and then thrown into the world but Elias was pretty sure that he didn’t want to think too closely about that.too

“So I should pick things out for you?” Peter questioned, and Elias shrugged.

“I don’t know I’ve never been Sugar Babied before but sure, I don’t mind as long as it’s soft and not green.”  
Green had been Jonah’s go-to colour, and Elias didn’t want it in his wardrobe. Green was now the colour of evil and had no rights.

“You wouldn’t even notice if it was green.” Peter pointed out, and Elias shrugged again.

“It’s a matter of principles.”

Peter snorted.

“Sure, got it, no green. Any other colour wishes?” Peter asked, pushing Elias forward and further into the Store.

“Mhh. I think I liked red.” Elias said, running his fingers over the pieces Peter handed him, keeping those that he liked and gave back those where he didn’t like the feel off.

“It’s quiet.”, he pointed out after a while. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. It was silent. He couldn’t hear anyone else Elias realised after he consciously paid attention to it. Peter just hummed in response and handed Elias another item. 

“We’re in the Lonely, aren’t we?” Peter hummed again. “Huh, well explains the chill.”

“You don’t seem bothered by it.”

Elias shrugged, he seemed to do that a lot today.

“Not really, it’s a bit cold but otherwise? I think I’m good.”

“I could leave you here.”

“Sure, you could.”

Silence answered him, and if he weren’t so aware of Peter’s presence nearby, he would be tempted to think that Peter had indeed just left him.

“So where are the dressing rooms?”, he simply asked.

“Aren’t you even remotely concerned.” Peter asked, and if Peter was someone else Elias might have thought that he sounded baffled, so he assumed that it was more a sort of curiosity. Elias shook his head while Peter guided him to the changing rooms.

“No, not really. I mean I don't _want_ to die, and I know that you’re quite capable of killing me, and I’d prefer if you didn’t just leave me stuck in the Lonely, but I kind of already made my peace with death and the Lonely doesn’t sound too bad.” 

Elias dropped his stack of clothes on the chair in the dressing room after Peter pointed it out to him and searched around until he found the curtain and pulled it shut. Not that it mattered much probably. It wasn’t anything Peter hadn’t seen before, and there wasn’t anyone else around. But old habits died hard.

“I think it would definitely be better than the Desolation or” He shuddered. “the Corruption.”

That one certainly made his skin itch.

“The Lonely is pretty much how I imagined dying anyway.” Elias admitted while placing his clothes down carefully so he would find them again later. He had always assumed that he would die alone and stuck in his head, unable to do anything, so the Lonely was probably an improvement.

“Maybe I should talk to a therapist about that.”, Elias mused, pulling a new shirt over his head.

“Do you want too, though?”

Elias snorted at Peter’s question.

“Oh hell no, wouldn’t even know where to start and just because I should do it doesn’t mean that I want to. No thanks, I think I’ll stick with maybe not so healthy coping mechanisms and burying everything.”

He stepped out of the dressing room as soon as he closed the buttons on the pants.

“You put the shirt on the wrong way.”

Elias reflexively looked down. Unnecessary because he couldn’t see anything, but his brain still hadn’t caught up that he was blind now.

“Great.”, he said dryly and stepped back into the cabin.

“Do you want help?”

Elias thought about it for a second before shaking his head.

“No, I’ll figure it out on my own.”

It seemed important to him to do as much as possible on his own. He valued his newfound independence and Peter wouldn’t always be there either. He had dressed himself alone before he could do so now.

And he did, he even got through the entire stack without turning anything around again. He left the decision on what to get to Peter while he slipped back into his own clothes.

On their way to the cashier, the atmosphere around them changed and voices filtered back in. Elias already started to miss the Lonely. More noise made it harder to navigate, and even with Peters help, he felt much more like he was bumbling around and was relieved when they reached around. He had reached the point where he just stared into empty nothingness while he let Peter deal with the lady behind the register. It felt like his social battery had been drained for today, and he just hadn’t realised it earlier because the Lonely hadn’t made it as evident.

It got slightly better as soon as they left the loud store behind them, but Elias definitely had enough of the city for now.

He pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to stave off the headache that started to form.

“What’s the plan now?” he asked.

“Whatever you want.”

“I want to go home or into the Lonely.” Elias answered, and he could feel Peter’s hand twitch where it still pressed against his back.

“You want to go into the Lonely?”

Elias hummed in agreement. He could already feel the familiar cold approaching while the noise around them dimmed again. Elias relaxed slightly.

“You’re peculiar.” Peter said, and Elias just snorted.

“Thanks, it’s the trauma.”,

His stomach grumbled.

“Maybe we should grab you some food before I bring you back.”

“Sounds like you won’t stay.” Elias said and shivered, outside of the building, the Lonely seemed even colder.

“No, the Tundra is calling, ships don’t sail themselves, and you seem to be capable enough to take care of yourself while I’m gone.”

“Sure.”, Elias agreed and wrapped his arms around himself.

“Are you cold?”

“Hmm? Yeah, a bit, I suppose?”

“Here.” the hand on his back left and instead something heavy got dropped on him. A coat? It must’ve been, it felt like one. It definitely was warm, and Elias slipped his arms through the sleeves. They were too long, obviously. But he wasn’t cold anymore, and the coat smelled like ocean and salt. It was...pleasant.

“Thank you.”, Elias managed to say although he sounded quite flabbergasted. Peter had called him peculiar, but in Elias’ eyes, Peter was an enigma himself. Way to caring for an avatar of the Lonely, but Elias wouldn’t complain. 

Peter’s hand found it’s way back onto his back, guiding him through the empty streets of London. He only left him once to get some sandwiches that he handed Elias. Much to the delight of Elias’ stomach that protested again.

Their drive back was quiet, both of them revelling in the comfortable silence that settled between them.

Only when they walked over the gravel path to the manor, Elias opened his mouth again.

“Can you help me turn on the screen reader on my phone before you leave?” he asked.

“You have Jonah’s phone?”

“Yeah. I mean it was in the pocket of my suit jacket. Pretty sure I still felt it there yesterday, so I assume he hasn’t taken it. Not that he kept anything important on it anyway.”

“If you’ll bring it to me I can probably figure something out.”

What followed was that Elias experienced first hand how incompetent Peter was, concerning technology. After crossing the half an hour mark of Peter fumbling around Elias assumed that it would have been faster if he had tried himself or simply asked Siri, but at that point, he already had been too invested to stop and suggest that.

It was hard not to snicker, but literally biting his tongue helped to keep it back. But he did fail to hide his amused grin when Peter did hand him the phone back.

“I hate that modern crap, who needs three texting apps anyway?”, Peter muttered, and Elias couldn’t hold back anymore and started to laugh.

“Oh you know, three apps on which no one texts you anyway to make you feel extra lonely. Shouldn’t that be something you appreciate?” Elias asked amused. He could feel Peter’s eyes on him and just grinned back. Peter huffed, and Elias could basically _feel_ his eyeroll even if he couldn’t see it.

“I’ll be going if that was everything? I told the servants about you, so they’re aware. If you need anything, just tell them.”

“Wait, what servants?” 

Elias was confused.

“The housekeeper, also responsible for cooking for you in this case, cleaning personnel, a gardener, the usual, you’ll probably meet them tomorrow. At least the housekeeper that is.”

Elias wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or not. Having someone who would cook for him was undoubtedly helpful. But he would also have to deal with someone.

Either way, he should’ve guessed that there were servants, regularly switched out servants probably but servants nonetheless.

“The usual, I see. Good to know, I guess.”

“I’ll be back in a few weeks. See you then.”

“Sure, don’t get lost at Sea.”, Elias joked.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Elias shrugged and smiled.

“Well, it would leave me a rich widower, wouldn’t it?”

He heard how the front door got opened.

“Try not to die while I’m gone.”

“No worries. Wouldn’t do you that much of a favour.”, Elias shot back. He heard Peter chuckled then the door fell shut, cutting off the sound.

Elias was alone again, and a shocking realisation hit him. He would actually miss that idiot. That couldn’t be good. Elias furrowed his brows and tugged his coat around him. The cold was already starting to seep into his bones again.

.

.

.

Wait? Coat? Elias ran his fingers over the fabric. He was still wearing Peter’s coat.

“Guess he forgot it.” he muttered to himself and got up.

“Well, now its mine.”

At least until Peter was back and until then, he could spend his time to start a twitter account or something. Maybe he’d find a way to bother Jonah.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon calls  
> Explanations are given  
> And Elias would rather be alone again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no Peter this time but Jon and Tim show up!  
> (Peter will be probably back next chap)  
> (hopefully)
> 
> It's also a shorter chap this time but eh ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The days that followed after Peter’s departure left Elias exhausted. 

He did meet Eliza, the middle-aged lady who was the current housekeeper of the estate and thanks to Anna and Robert he did make progress on learning how to use his cane and how to organise his life to make it easier to navigate. Nonetheless, it was a lot more human interaction than he would choose to have on his own volitation and every day ended with him falling face first into his bed, followed by him sleeping like the dead until he had to get up again.

The positive thing was that it kept him to busy to think and left no room for boredom. On the other hand, he really started to crave some much needed time alone that he wasn’t spending dead to the world.

So when the weekend arrived Elias felt relieved since it meant that he only had to deal with Eliza, because the other two had their weekend off. They had told him that he could still call them anytime and Elias wondered how much Peter was paying them that they were willing to forfeit their weekend to check on him.

Even so, nothing short of dying, and Elias wasn’t so sure about that either, would make him call anyone. This was his (relatively) free weekend too.

But as it turned out, peace was harder to come by than he had anticipated. Instead of sleeping in as he had planned too, he got woken up by his phone ringing and alerting him that Jon was calling. 

Elias groaned and shoved his face back into his pillow. There had already been a few texts throughout the week. Texts that he had completely ignored, to the point where he didn’t even know what they were about because he hadn’t bothered to check. He was retired for god’s sake. They could go and bother Jonah.

He was tempted to just ignore his phone, but something told him that it would delay the inevitable, so he picked up.

“What?”

God, he sounded grouchy.

“Elias?”

He sighed and sat up.

“No, Santa Claus,” he replied dryly. “How can I help you, Jon?”

“Uhhh...I have some questions?” 

“Tough luck, so do I. Have you tried Google?”

Elias was very aware that Jon didn’t deserve his ire, but he had also woken him up, so he earned at least part of his annoyance.

“I. I don’t think Google will help me here?”

Jon sounded as exhausted as Elias felt and very confused. He could feel pity stirring inside of him and sighed again.

“Fine. Fine. Alright. I’ll help. As much as I can anyway but not today. Are you free tomorrow?”

“Ahh..sure, yeah.”

“Great, I’ll send you an address later, you can drop by tomorrow, just give me a warning when you arrive. Bring one of your assistants if you want. Just not Sasha.”

He knew what “she” was and he didn’t want that kind of thing anywhere close by.

“Why not, Sasha?” Jon questioned, making Elias sigh.

“Because I said so and if you want answers then you’ll respect my wishes.”

“....fine.”

Elias sighed again.

“Listen. I’ll explain it tomorrow, alright?”

“I suppose.”

“Perfect. I’ll send you the address, and we’ll see each other tomorrow.”

Elias ended the call before Jon could answer. He frowned when he realised that he was too awake to go back to sleep now. Frustrating. With a groan, he got up. If he was already awake, then he could get at least breakfast and warn Eliza that there would be guests.

He quickly got himself ready and made his way to the kitchen. When he opened the door, he already got greeted by the smell of fresh coffee.

“Good morning, Mr Bouchard.”

“Told you to call me Elias.” Elias mumbled, flopping down on his usual chair. He wrapped his fingers around the mug that got placed in front of him.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Elias.”

He hummed in acknowledgement, sipping on his coffee.”

“We’ll have guests tomorrow.”

“Oh? Friends?”

Elias thought about it. Were they friends? Probably not, he doubted that he had any friends left.

“Colleagues.”

“Ah, will they be here for lunch?”

He shrugged.

“Don’t know. Maybe?”

“I’ll plan on it then. Just in case.”

“Do that.” Elias agreed and fell back into silence. Eliza had learned quickly that he wanted to be left alone, especially in the mornings and left him to his own devices.

Elias finished his breakfast and actually sent Jon the address, he had to ask Eliza for it since he realised that he had no idea where he actually was and added that Jon shouldn’t show up before 11 unless he wanted to end up in front of locked doors.

After that, he spent the rest of the day wandering through the mansion, avoiding employees wherever and whenever possible. Something the house made surprisingly easy as if it wanted to help Elias avoid social interactions. But it was probably only the way the house was constructed to make it easy for the Lonely.

At the end of the day, he actually felt ready enough to deal with Jon the next day. At least for a while.

That sentiment held until about half an hour before Jon’s arrival was due, and Elias started to wonder if it was still possible to just hide.

He was currently sitting cross-legged on a couch in what he assumed was a study of sorts. There was a desk at least and a swivel chair and a few bookshelves full of books he couldn’t read anymore. Also, two couches that were only remotely comfortable, but they would do.

Eliza had brought some tea and biscuits, and now he was waiting, trying to resist the urge to leave.

His fingers thrummed against his knees. It shouldn’t be that much longer until Jon would arrive. He had sent a message, stating that he would be there at around 12. And Eliza had brought the tea at approximately five to twelve.

Waiting made him antsy, but hearing steps approaching the study didn’t help much. Elias took a deep breath, facing into the vague direction of the door before he released the air slowly. He could do this. He just had to answer a few questions then he could kick them out again. Easy enough, right?

There were three sets of footsteps, so Jon did indeed bring someone with him. Elias just hoped that he had listened and hadn’t brought Sasha.

The door opened.

“Elias, I brought your guests.”

“Thank you, Eliza.”

“You’re welcome. Call me if you need anything.”

“We will.”

The door closed again, leaving him with Jon and well someone else.

“So you had questions?” Elias started, forcefully keeping his voice calm and even.

“Yeah, why are you wearing sunglasses inside?”

The voice sounded like Tim? Probably?

“Tim.” Jon sounded exhausted

So he had been right, the second person was Tim. That was good Elias supposed.

“What? I think that’s a pretty valid question.”

Elias chuckled dryly, lowering his glasses slightly to reveal the empty sockets.

“Believe me, they’re more for your comfort than for mine.”, he said with a wry smile.

“...What. The. Fuck?” 

Elias had to agree with Tim on that, that was something ghosting around his head basically ever since he had regained control over his body. Maybe before that too. He pushed his glasses back up.

“There might be more what the fuck moments coming so you should probably sit down.”, he gestured in the direction of the other unoccupied couch.

“So where do I start.”

“Ah, maybe with the Eyes? Or the uhh lack there off.” Jon suggested, and Elias could hear them settle down on the couch across of him. He shrugged.

“Might as well.”

What followed were indeed a lot of “what the fuck”’s. Mostly from Tim. Jon, on the other hand, kept pretty quiet besides the occasional question, but Elias could feel his gaze on him the entire time.

“So to sum this up.” Tim started. “There are fourteen fear entities that are sort of like lovecraftian horrors, but real, that feed off of our fear and the Magnus Institute belongs to one of them.”

“Yup.”

“And Jonah Magnus serves it, and body hops semi-regularly, and that’s what happened to you?”

“Yep, right now he probably occupies whoever the new head of the institute is.”, Elias said with a shrug.

“And you’re the first to survive this?”, Jon asked, interrupting Tim.

Elias shrugged again.

“As far as I know. James Wright is dead at least, and I’m pretty sure me being alive is an unfortunate accident. And I doubt that Jonah would make the same mistake twice if it had happened before.”

Jon hummed.

“So do you believe me?”

There was silence.

“Shockingly yes.” Tim admitted while Jon sighed,

“Something tells me that you’re telling the truth.” Jon admitted quietly.

“I have one more question, though. Why did you tell me I shouldn’t bring Sasha?”

“Ahh, yes…”

Elias sighed. This part would be complicated. 

“You know….Sasha is gone. Sort of?”

“What do you mean sort of gone? I just saw her earlier?” Tim questioned.

“Well, that wasn’t her? She has been replaced.”

“What do you mean replaced? Don’t you think we would’ve noticed? And where’s the real Sasha then?”

“Okay, okay, listen.” Elias tried to calm Tim down. “I don’t know where the real Sasha is… I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”, he added quietly.

Hands were grasping his collar, pulling him up. His hands, instinctively wrapping around the wrists of the hands that grabbed him, but Elias didn’t resist otherwise.

“No, you listen. You can’t just... I… Sasha.” Tim’s voice teetered somewhere between furious and heartbroken.

“Tim.” Jon’s voice cut through to them. “Let him go. Please. It’s not his fault. I think.” 

Tim let go of him, and Elias slumped back down on the couch.”

“How can you stay so calm?!” Tim snapped at Jon.

“I’m not! I’m just as….Hurting Elias will get us nowhere.” Jon sounded just as agitated as Tim and Elias raised an eyebrow. He supposed he should be glad that hurting him didn’t seem to be on the agenda.

“Hey.”, he started but got drowned out by Tim and Jon freaking out at each other.

“Hey.” he tried again, louder this time, but nothing.”

“SHUT UP YOU TWO.”

The Silence that followed was imminent.

“Thank you.” He rubbed his temples. “I know this is a lot. Trust me. I know, but I’d appreciate if we could keep our calm for one damn second so that you can get your information and I can kick you out, so I never have to see you again.”

“....you couldn’t see us if you wanted too.” Tim said quietly after a moment.

Elias opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“Touché.” he relented with a crooked smile.

“Back to the topic though. I do not know if it’s possible to save Sasha, but there are probably some statements about the bodysnatcher thing, maybe you’ll find something there that can help you.”, he suggested.

“Did the ah...not!Sasha thing also kill Gertrude?” Jon asked.

“Ah yes about that….no,” Elias said, scratching the back of his head. “That was me or well Jonah, but you know….” he shrugged. “So that means you can stop suspecting your coworkers now.”

“But…”

“Yeah, no I’m with Elias on that.”

Elias heard Jon exhale loudly at that.

“I’m...I’m sorry about that.”

Elias shrugged.

“Eh, it’s not like it bothered me personally, but you’re just a horrible detective.”

Tim snorted.

“He’s right about that, but boss, seriously don’t.”

“Yes, no, I mean, I won’t. I...I trust you….and Martin, I suppose. So I hope you can uh...forgive me?”

“Splendid and yes… I mean you apparently weren’t completely wrong…” Tim admitted.

“Now that’s what I call character development on all sides.” Elias declared overly cheerfully, clapping his hands.

“Glad you two can get along now and Jon? Honestly, Martin doesn’t deserve half the shit you give him.”

“O...okay?”

“Good, now that that is done, anything else?”

“No, I think we’re good.” Jon said.

“Perfect then I’ll bring you to the door.”

“You really want to get rid off us, don’t you?”, Tim asked.

“Yep.” Elias agreed, popping the p, and pushed himself up from the couch. “So let’s go.”

“You don’t have to show us out. We can find the way on our own. So you can stay here if you want.”

“I’m blind, not invalid.” Elias replied, unfolding his cane,

“I was just…”

“Yeah stuff it, my house my rules I’ll bring you to the door.” he said, making his way over to the door.

“Okay, then Mr Big Boss.”

“If you call me that one more time I will whack you Tim.” Elias said dryly, but there was a smile on his face as he led them through the corridors to the lobby.

Tim snorted amused.

“I definitely like you more like this. Instead of ‘You violated the dress code again, Mr Stoker.”

Elias smirked.

“Oh no, go on, violate the dress codes, wear hot pants and net shirts and every eye destroying pattern you can find. Make Jonah suffer by having to look at you.”

“That I can do. You in Jon?”

“Ah, yes, sure?” 

Elias had to admit that Tim fucking with the dress code was way easier to imagine than Jon doing the same. But maybe that was because Tim was more colourful. Jon would just need to add more spikes in that case he supposed.

“Amazing!” Elias chirped, stepping in front of the entrance door to pull it open. “There you go. And it’s not like he can fire you anyway.” He stopped. “Ahh, that might also be something worth knowing.”

“Uh...what?” Jon asked.

“You can’t quit. Eldritch binding pact and all. Unless you decide to take some very drastic measures.” Elias said, tapping below his glasses. “On the pro side you do have supernatural job security now, so you win some you lose some, right?”

“Are you saying…?”

“Yup.”

“Well isn’t that just dandy?” Tim muttered, and Elias shrugged.

“Isn’t that bad, to be honest, but my situation isn’t exactly your situation so up to you.” he said. “also might be enough if Jon’s the one to do it? Head Archivist and all. Or you kill Jonah but either way.”, he shrugged again. “Don’t know, don’t care, now shoo.”, he said, pushing lightly against the back of the person closest to him. Tim, he guessed because of the height.

“Wait what do you mean with..?”

“As I said, don’t know, don’t care, don't know if it’s correct either, the Jon part, pretty sure the quitting part and the murder part do work, now shoo. I’m done for today. You have my number you can call me or text me if necessary, but please don’t.” he said, shoving them out of the door.

“I’d say it was a pleasure, but that would be a lie, goodbye Tim, goodbye Jon, good luck with whatever you plan on doing now.”

“I...but...we...bye Elias.” Jons tone made it seem like he had gotten the hint, so Elias waved in response and let the heavy door fall shut behind them. He sighed and let his shoulders drop, turning around, he slumped against the door. Groaning lowly he slowly let himself slide down the wood until he ended up sitting on the floor.

Elias let his head drop into his neck, rubbing over his face. There was a dull throb forming behind his eyes. 

That had been something…

“Elias.”

He resisted the urge to groan at Eliza’s voice. He hadn’t even been alone for five minutes.

“Hmmm?” he grumbled weakly. Everything else seemed like too much effort.

“Are you okay?” Eliza asked she sounded worried.

“Peachy. I think I might get a headache, though. Do we have any painkillers around?”

“Of course. I’ll bring you some, just wait I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Elias made some sort of agreeing sound, which seemed to be enough for her. He sighed, sitting there waiting for Eliza to return while he tries to ignore the throbbing of his head.

Eliza did indeed come back, bringing him painkillers and a glass of water that Elias was very grateful for. Then she left him alone again. Something he was evenjust as if not more grateful for.

He pulled his knees up to his chest after placing the now empty glass beside him. Elias dropped his head on his knees and exhaled slowly. Finally alone.

He could even swear that he felt the familiar cold fog of the Lonely nipping at him.

But that couldn’t be, right? After all, Peter wasn’t there to take him into the Lonely, but it was nice nonetheless.

He closed his eyes and let himself drift, embracing the cool fog that whispered to him. It wrapped around him, giving him some peace and quiet. Yes, maybe this wasn’t all that bad.

Maybe he could ask Peter to take him into the Lonely again when he came back. There he wouldn’t have to deal with ex-colleagues at least. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have a writing [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CryptidMusings) now!  
> On which I yell mostly about ships and AUs and you can also find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/constantlytiredghost) :>

**Author's Note:**

> Big shout out to Arwyn and Tabs who both were lovely enough to beta read this thing! 
> 
> And:  
> So far this his absolutely no fixed update schedule but more is already in the making! :D


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